Voices

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 50, No. 7, September 2008, Page 354 Editorials
By: David R. Richardson, MD

I read the history of the BCMJ recently and noted in 88 years of publication, first as the Vancouver Medical Association Bulletin, then as the BCMJ, there have only been six editors. JAW or Dr Jim Wilson (aka Cuddles) has been in this position for 16 years. He has made the Journal the excellent publication it is today through his intellect, drive, determination, and humor. 

He is truly an inspiration and might I say a mentor. There is no way I can fill his shoes metaphorically and physically (I have really wide feet), so I’m not going to try. Speaking of shoes they say you should never comment on a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes. Mostly because you will be a mile ahead and he will be barefoot. 

I will strive to continue JAW’s legacy of excellence by following his editorial example, but I will need a lot of help. Thank goodness for our wonderful Editorial Board and staff. I admire and respect each of them. I rely on their input and advice and will try to convince them not to resign en masse, which I’m sure was their first instinct on hearing of my appointment.

I will also need your help. 

Those of you who read the Journal are aware that this is the 50-year anniversary of the publication in its current form. Earlier this year the members of the Editorial Board reviewed past years of the BCMJ. This was a very entertaining process, particularly the ad­vertisements encouraging physicians to prescribe antipsychotics to anxious housewives (do you ever wonder which of our current ads will seem bizarre 50 years from now?). 

As I looked through the articles and editorials I was amazed to see that many of the themes are still relevant today—socialized medicine, cost containment, governance issues, and quality of patient care, just to name a few.

Fifty years of voices—now I want to hear yours. Through medical school, internship, and my work as a physician I have been consistently im­pressed by the creativity and intellect of my colleagues. Don’t hesitate to write down your valuable life experiences and share them with others. 

Finish that scientific paper and send it in. 

Craft a letter to the editor expressing your views on issues that move you. 

Pen a short story on a theme relevant to BCMJ readers. 

Create, write, craft, express, vent, implore, de-stress, and above all (because I will appreciate it), feel free to be funny or sarcastic. 

Remember this is your journal and it should be full of your voices.
—DRR

David R. Richardson, MD. Voices. BCMJ, Vol. 50, No. 7, September, 2008, Page(s) 354 - Editorials.


Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

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